1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for recording and reproducing moving pictures, and more particularly to a portable electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A audio information recording apparatus is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 10-111917, as a portable recording apparatus which is easy to carry by hand and simple to operate. The apparatus disclosed in the above publication comprises a speaker opening, an LCD portion, an ERASE/FORMAT button, etc., provided in a front portion of a main body, a cover for a memory card slot provided in a back portion, a microphone opening, an LED, etc., provided in a top side portion, operation buttons, such as a recording button, provided in a right side portion, and a battery cover provided in a bottom side portion. Therefore, in this apparatus, the area of the front portion of a housing, which is the apparatus wrapping body, is minimized as much as possible, so that the apparatus can be held in one hand. The operation buttons are provided in a position where they can be operated easily. Since such the conventional portable audio information recording apparatus as described above can be operated with one hand, recording can easily be started. Thus, the apparatus is suitable for recording speech in a conference, etc.
In the prior art, there is a portable recording apparatus for audio or still pictures. However, such an apparatus cannot record moving pictures. Thus, if moving pictures need to be taken away from home, a separate digital camera is necessary. Since the digital video cameras use videotapes or optical discs as recording media, the size of the digital cameras is necessarily large.
There is also a problem that the conventional portable audio recording apparatus is limited in its range of use, since the apparatus is designed to be used solely, and cannot reproduce contents, such as video or music, recorded at home or at the office by other apparatuses.